Category Archives: Aml

AML social event

The Association for Mormon Letters will hold a dinner, with author readings, on Saturday, March 24, from 5:30, right after the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference ends. Anyone with interest in Mormon literature and arts is invited.

It will be at a home at 2460 N. Canyon Road in Provo. We will be in the West Wing of the house, a separate apartment from the main part of the house (where a different event will be held at around the same time). We will have fliers at the conference with maps. There will be a light dinner (soup and salad) provided, and everyone is encouraged to participate in the potluck by brining desserts, side dishes, or drinks.

We invite authors to do readings at the event. The AML award winners and finalists will have first priority, but we hope that we will have time for others as well, including the poets at our poetry panel. Please write andrewrhall@gmail.com if you are interested in attending, and if you would like to do a reading.

We encourage participants to leave their cars at BYU and carpool as much as possible. There is a parking lot for the BYU Intermural Fields on Canyon Road, which is essentially across the street. People could also park in the back lot at Centennial Middle School, walk across the soccer field and come through the walking gate.

AML Business Meeting and Call for Volunteers

AML will hold a business meeting on Saturday, March 24, during lunch, 12:15-2:00, in JFSB B030 on BYU campus, with some board members participating through Skype. If you are interested in volunteering to help run AML, or Irreantum, our literary magazine, we invite you to drop by and let us know.

Donations to AML

Please donate to help keep the Association for Mormon Letters going. AML operating costs are typically low, but the organization currently has no formal practice for collecting membership dues. To continue its support of Mormon letters, AML requires donations to maintain its website and blog, fund its annual conference and awards ceremony, and fund its literary magazine Irreantum, which is restarting this month.

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters Awards finalists in Anthology, Criticism, and Poetry. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the works and author biographies, adapted from the author and publisher websites (if anyone wants to fix part, please write it in the reply, and I will fix it). These are the last finalists, although we will also announce the names of those to be honored with the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters, and the AML Lifetime Achievement Award before the conference.

Anthology

This is a new category, which may or may not appear again in the future. In the past there have been short story collections which have been recognized for awards. 2017 saw three significant anthologies published, one a collection of essays, one a collection of short stories, and one a mixture of both (as well as poetry, art and drama). So the Short Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction judges have agreed to create this ad-hoc category.

In Mormonism we are sometimes seemingly casual about death: it’s a veil or a mission call to the spirit world. But our actual encounters with the reality of death inevitably change us in ways that are difficult to articulate. In this collection, Mormon writers wrestle with mortality and its aftermath. A family sings a hesitant rendition of Happy Birthday to a grief-stricken mother who buried who toddler just a few hours earlier; an agnostic son decides he’s Mormon enough to arrange a funeral for his believing father. Some essays use death as a means to understand faith. One author imagines a world where Heavenly Mother visits her children in the form of their female ancestors, appearing to her descendants in times of grief or pain. Others address practicalities: how do you protect your children from death while still allowing them to experience the world; how do you get through one more nausea-ridden day of cancer treatment? Still others delve into death’s questions: does the overwhelming suffering that occurs in the animal kingdom have a function in the “plan of happiness”? Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, always thought-provoking, these personal essays, poems, and stories may never be heard at a Mormon funeral. But they probably should be. Continue Reading →

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters Awards finalists in Drama and Film. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the works and author biographies, adapted from the author and organisation websites (if anyone wants to fix part, please write it in the reply, and I will fix it). Announcements for Anthology, Criticism, and Poetry are still to come.

Drama

The judges for the Drama award considered only the written scripts, not the production.

Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Abbess who wrote the Western World’s first opera and had the ear of the Pope, dared to ask: Is it possible to bridge the gap between spirituality and sexuality? Slover explores the conflict between religious traditions and personal revelation. This is the play’s first fully staged production.

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters awards finalists in Comics and Picture Book. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the books and author biographies, adapted from the author and publisher websites.

Comics

In pursuit of the time-travelling criminal known as Universo, the super-powered kids from the 30th Century travel back to the 1960s to enlist the aid of the ‘greatest teen super-hero ever’ Robin, the Boy Wonder. But meanwhile, Batman’s hard-boiled nemesis Egghead has stolen one of their unattended time bubbles and taken off to the Legion’s time period. Looks like Batman has to head to far flung future with one group of heroes while Robin stays in the swinging sixties with another. Holy time paradox! Continue Reading →

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters awards finalists in Creative Non-Fiction and Religious Non-Fiction. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the books and author biographies, adapted from the author and publisher websites.

“Creative Non-fiction” includes memoirs and collections of personal essays. “Religious Non-fiction” refers to a wide variety of LDS religious studies books, including scriptural studies, theology, social studies, and devotional literature. The category does not include histories or biographies, as the Mormon History Association already does a good job of recognizing those books.

Creative Non-Fiction

In That We May Be One, Tom Christofferson shares perspectives gained from his life’s journey as a gay man who left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then returned to it. After having asked to be excommunicated from the faith he was raised in, Tom spent two decades in a loving relationship with a committed partner. But gradually, the love of family, friends, and strangers and the Spirit of the Lord worked on him until he found himself one night sitting in his car in front of the bishop’s house . . . This book is about the lessons Tom, his family, and his fellow Saints learned while trying to love as God loves. It is about the scope and strength of this circle of love and about how learning the truth of our relationship with God draws us to Him. For anyone who has wondered how to keep moving forward in the face of difficult decisions and feelings of ambiguity; for anyone who needs to better understand the redeeming power of our Savior, Jesus Christ; for anyone who seeks to love more fully; this book offers reassurance and testimony of God’s love for all of His children. Continue Reading →

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters awards finalists in Middle Grade Novel and Young Adult Novel. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the books and author biographies, adapted from the author and publisher websites.

Middle Grade Novel

Twelve-year-old Olivia Hales has a foolproof plan for winning a million dollars so that she and her little sister, Berkeley, can leave behind Sunny Pines Trailer Park. But first she has to: – Fix the swamp cooler and make dinner and put Berkeley to bed because her mom is too busy to do all that. – Write another letter to her dad even though he hasn’t written back yet. – Teach Berk the important stuff, like how to make chalk drawings, because they can’t afford day care and Olivia has to stay home from school to watch her. – Petition her oddball neighbors for a circus spectacular, because there needs to be something to look forward to at dumb-bum Sunny Pines. – Become a super-secret spy to impress her new friend Bart. – Enter a minimum of fourteen sweepstakes a day. Who knows? She may already be a winner! Olivia has thought of everything . . . except herself. Who will take care of her when she needs it? Luckily, somewhere deep down between her small intestine and stomach is a tiny voice reminding her that sometimes people can surprise you–and sometimes your family is right next door. Continue Reading →

We are pleased to announce the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters awards finalists in Novel and Short Fiction. We will be announcing the other category finalists over the coming week, including Comics, Creative Non-Fiction, Criticism, Drama, Film, Middle Grade Novel, Picture Book, Poetry, Religious Non-Fiction, and Young Adult Novel. The final awards will be announced and presented at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Brigham Young University on March 23. The Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Lettersand the AML Lifetime Achievement awards will also be presented there. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The finalist announcements include blurbs about each of the books and author biographies, adapted from the author and publisher websites.

Novel

John Eliason is a young Mormon missionary from Alberta about to return home after two years in Sweden. When his only convert dies, John’s last duty is to visit the estranged family to make funeral arrangements. As the snow strands him in the countryside, tensions rise and family secrets are uncovered. The story unfolds through letters, journal entries, flashbacks, and fragmented ruminations. It is a love note to people outside of their cultural comfort zones, to failed poets, and to silence.

Claire Åkebrand is a Swede who grew up in Germany and Utah. Her poetry has appeared in the Manchester Review, BOAAT, the Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection What Was Left of the Stars was published by Serpent Club Press in Summer 2017. She was shortlisted for the 2017 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize judged by Billy Collins. She currently lives in Provo with the poet Michael Lavers and their two children. Continue Reading →

Founded in 1976, the Association for Mormon Letters is a nonprofit organization seeking to promote a rich tradition of creative writing “by, for, and about Mormons.” Each year AML holds an annual conference and awards ceremony to encourage scholarship in Mormon arts, literature, and culture and recognize excellence in the work of Mormon writers and scholars.

While smaller than other Mormon scholarly associations, AML fills a unique niche in Mormon studies with its attention to Mormonism’s long and often rich literary and artistic tradition. No other Mormon scholarly organization is as committed to fostering Mormon literary criticism and academic inquiry into Mormon literary arts. Without the Association for Mormon Letters, the work of many Mormon creative writers would go unrecognized, uninvestigated, and unrewarded.

Operating costs for the Association for Mormon Letters are typically low, but the organization currently has no formal practice for collecting membership dues or fundraising. To continue its support of Mormon letters, AML requires donations to maintain its website and blog and fund its annual conference and awards ceremony.

Mark your calendars: the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters Conference will take place on April 21 and 22.

The conference will open in Provo with a keynote address at Writ & Vision from writer Phyllis Barber, the recipient of the 2016 Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for outstanding achievement in Mormon Letters. The conference will then reconvene the next morning at Utah Valley University for a day of scholarly presentations, panel discussions, and literary readings. The winners of the AML Awards will also be announced at a special ceremony at 12:45 pm MST. Among those honored will be two lifetime achievement awards. Orson Scott Card will be presented with the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters, and Susan Elizabeth Howe will be presented with the Association for Mormon Letters Lifetime Achievement Award.

The conference and awards ceremony are free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!

2017

Association for Mormon Letters Conference

April 21-22, 2017

Utah Valley University

Schedule

Friday 4/21

Writ & Vision-274 W Center St., Provo, UT

7:00-8:00 PM

Keynote:

Phyllis Barber, “Reconciling Art with History”

Saturday 4/22

Utah Valley University-Orem, UT

9:30-10:00

AM

Registration

Room: CB 101A (Classroom Building)

10:00-11:15

AM

Panel Discussion:

“Mormon Historical Drama”

Tom Rogers

Melissa Larson

Margaret Young

Eric Samuelson

Moderator: James Goldberg

Room: CB 113

Sarah Reed, “Postmemory and the Lost Generation: Midcentury Mormon Novels”

Bert Fuller, “Mormon Poetry in Review: Some Notes on the Last Five Years.”

Sheldon Lawrence, “Mormon Conversion Narratives and the Construction of Certainty”

Room: CB 114

Campus Map and Parking

On Saturday, the conference will be held in the Classroom Building on the northwest end of campus, right next to the Fulton Library on College Drive. On campus maps, the building is marked CB.

When you arrive, please register in room 101A. All sessions will take place either in room 113 or 114. These rooms are right inside the southwest entrance of the building, right next to parking lot L4.

AML Facebook Feed

The Association for Mormon Letters will present two lifetime achievement awards at the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference Banquet on March 23, held at the BYU Skyroom Restaurant, 6:30-8:30 pm. Lavina Fielding Anderson will be presented with the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters, and Robert Kirby will be presented with the Association for Mormon Letters Lifetime Achievement Award. Both authors will be attending. There will also be one panel dedicated to each awardee as part of the MSH Conference, held in the afternoon of March 23, before the award ceremony. associationmormonletters.org/blog/2018/03/lifetime-achievement-awards-lavina-fielding-anderson-an...... See MoreSee Less

Kim Östman reviews Hans H Mattsson and Christina Andersson Hanke's memoir, “Sökte sanning – fann tvivel” (Sought Truth, Found Doubt). Mattsson is a former member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy, who has been public with his transition away from belief in Mormonism. "Latter-day Saint life and faith is portrayed with great skill throughout the book, and nobody is portrayed flippantly or vindictively. Despite comments that remind the reader of the book’s ultimate message, its tone is respectful throughout, and it is abundantly clear that the authors have a place in their hearts for their former faith and their experiences within it. Mr. Mattsson appears to have arrived at a healthy vantage point from which to evaluate his life journey, which is demonstrated especially in the epilogue, written in first-person style." associationmormonletters.org/blog/reviews/current-reviews/mattsson-and-hanke-sokte-sanning-fans-t...... See MoreSee Less

Segullah interviews Susan Howe. "In my student days, I was repeatedly warned against didactic poetry, poetry whose purpose is to convince the reader of something. I still believe that to be a good warning; a didactic purpose keeps a poem from being art and reduces it to a kind of propaganda. On the other hand, the patriarchal literary establishment has, during my generation and earlier, prevented women from examining their own experience by calling women’s perspectives limited and partial, which of course they are, just as men’s perspectives are limited and partial. As a student I had to learn to read with a male perspective; now men also have to learn to read with a female perspective. I think this is altogether admirable and creates far greater opportunities for men and women to understand each other. I was also taught that if you know the end of your poem when you begin to write it, it’s already a dead poem, and I believe that’s also true. Poems are about exploring, examining, and learning where the poem wants to go, not deciding that beforehand. I hope that’s evident in my poems, particularly when I examine such subjects as Mother in Heaven." segullah.org/daily-special/interview-featured-writer-susan-elizabeth-howe/... See MoreSee Less